Illness/Sickness: she is not looking well!!

What am I to do?
Something is growing on my axolotl, and it is getting worse. I have taken some fotos that I hope show her condition.
She is in the fridge now - I read that is a good idea. But what now and how did this happen?

She lives in a 30 l tank, with sand on the bottom. The water temperature is 20 degrees celcius. PH is 8. Ammonia 0, Nitriat is 0,1 and nitrate is in the ok zone on the colour chart.

hope somebody has an idea?

Hi,

that looks like a bad fungus. You should do salt baths. Please take a look at this Link http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/salt.shtml

If the salt baths won´t be helpful in the next 2 days, then you should go to a vet.

A 30 litre tank is much too small for axies. The minimum size of the aquarium is 80cm in lenght.

-Tina-

I would take Tina's advise, but be very careful with the amount of salt you use as you may damage his skin if too much is used. In regards to the size of the tank, I thought the minimum size is 60 cm (a 2ft tank)! Please tell me if I am wrong?! Also how big is your axie? He may be small enough to line in this for now, however, they grow fast and an upgrade will be needed very soon!

Hope all goes well, keep us posted!

Cheers - S.J

Hi Mli,

I agree it looks very much like fungus. At 20C the temperature is in a zone that enables fungus to thrive if you can get it down to below 18C you will likely have less chance of fungus. In the mentime if you follow the steps in the link Tina supplied it should all work out.

Good luck

Hi Mli,

In my opinion, i think there is mixed infection. The wispy white material on the gill filaments are very characteristically fungus and the advice given to you by the others would be most beneficial. Salt baths are indicated.

However, the caseous lesions on the forelimb look suspiciously bacterial. Fungal infections rarely are the primary infectious agent. Fungal infections tend to occur secondary to an underlying cause.

Your current plan of fridging and salt baths are perfect. I would recommend you keep to this for at least 2-3 weeks and continually monitor. If the lesions don't regress, you would have to make an appointment with your vet.

Just to be safe, i would advise you to handle your axie by scooping it up in a container rather than handle with your bare hands. This is to prevent any transmission of zoonotic infections.

Cheers.

thank you all fore your advice.

She is in the fridge now and I have startet giving her saltbaths, with a salt solution of 17 g/l fore 20 minuttes - My plan is to start it up like this and if it dosn´t get better in a the next 2 days, i will increase the solution. How often should I give her these salt baths?

If she also has a bacterial infection, and I understand correctly, the salt baths may remove the fungus, but she will just get it again later? Have I understod ??? What could the vet do too help? I am consitorating if I sould take her to the vet know or wait?

About the tank size - I did not know the tank was too small - Would you tell me what a too small tank does? thanks

Hi mli,

The smaller the tank the greater the concentration of waste in the water, its no big thing it just means you will need to be extra vigilant with your water changes and chemistry.

You can give up to 3 salt baths a day in a fresh sollution each time.

Salt baths will not treat a bacterial infection, this is where the vet comes in.

good luck

Hi Mli,

I would suggest that stick to the fridging and salt baths first for 3 weeks. Taper down the salt baths when you notice an improvement on the fungal infections. Once the fungal infection is cleared, there is no necessity for further salt baths.

In many cases, fridging and clearing off any secondary infections can substantially improve the axie's own immunity against any bacterial infections. As such, many bacteria infections can clear up just from fridging. You would have to monitor the progress throughout. If after 3 weeks, there is no improvement or worse still, deterioration of the condition, veterinary intervention would be warranted.

Cheers.

hi.

again - thanks fore the good advice..

What do I do with the tank when she is ready to go back. And what do I do to prevent this happinging again?

Hi Mli,

In the meantime keep looking after your tank as if it had an inhabitant, there should be enough waste left to maintain the beneficial bacteria. Do twice weekly 20% water changes and keep the filter running and in 3 weeks it should be ready for your axie. Its a good idea to let your axie sit in the container from the fridge for a couple of hours to let it warm up to the temperature of the tank.

Good Luck